Fast responsive and highly efficient optical upconverter based on phosphorescent OLED.

In this work, an organic-inorganic hybrid optical upconverter that can convert irradiated 980 nm IR light to 510 nm green phosphorescence sensitively was fabricated and studied. fac-Tris(2-phenylpyridine) iridium (Ir(ppy)3) doped 4,4'-bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (CBP) was used as emitting layer in the phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) unit. The upconverter using a phosphorescent OLED as display unit can achieve a higher upconversion efficiency and a low power consumption when compared with the one using fluorescent. An upconversion efficiency of 4.8% can be achieved for phosphorescent device at 15 V, much higher than that of fluorescent one (2.0%). The upconverter's transient optical and electric response to IR pulse were also investigated for the first time. The response time was found to be influenced by IR intensity and applied voltage. It has a response time as short as 60 μs. The rapid response property of the upconverter makes it feasible to be applied to high-speed IR imaging systems.